outofstep.tv » Atlantic

A&R music industry changes July 2011

admin — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:55:29 +0000

As always, we’ve been tracking the activity and movement within the A&R community over the last two months starting with the hiring of Doug Morris who officially joined Sony and the appointment of Antonio ‘LA’ Reid as the the new CEO of the Epic Label Group (consisting of Epic and Jive). Also joining Sony is Stephen Ferrera who joins Columbia and of course, the other big news was that Gee Roberson takes the helm at Geffen as the new CEO along with his VP A&R Jean Nelson. In Los Angeles, Myles Lewis joins Epic, Steve Prudholme joins Capitol, andGreg Sederspiel joins Warner Bros. Other A&R executives making moves include Ankur Malhotra, Alaska Gedeon, and Shari Reich. In UK moves, Nick Raphael joins Universal’s London Label, Jesse Peters joins Epic, Joe Barbie joins Atlantic and veteran executive Pete Tong revives his label FFRRvia Warner Bros.-UK.

In other label news, Universal continues to significantly trim its overhead. The latest reduction comes with the closure of the Motown label. Only a few executives remain in A&R, Nigel Mac in New York and Chris Anokute in Los Angeles. All of the other A&R staff unfortunately were let go. Other creative executives within Universal who recently departed include A&R executives Ron Fair who left Geffen at the end of May, along with Jolene Cherry, Aimee Nadeau and Louie Bandek. We wish them all well and hope that they can quickly rejoin the creative fray in a new endeavor.

A&R changes – 3/13/11

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:28:37 +0000

On the A&R front, the big news of course was the hiring of former EMI A&R Executive Nick Gatfield as President of Sony UK. Other UK news includes the exit of Ellie Giles from Fiction while Gary Harris joins Fiction. Here in the US, both G. Roberson, Exec. VP and Jean Nelson, VP, A&R-Urban exit Atlantic. And of course the really big news was the move of Lucian Grainge to the Chairman/CEO post at Universal and the move of Doug Morris from Universal to Sony. We’re also hearing that Island Def Jam Chairman Antonio L.A. Reid is in talks with Universal for a new music venture and possibly stepping down from his post at IDJ (more info at http://bit.ly/dUcJNX ).

Major Labels suck – A&R people thrown to the wolves – NOW it’s your time to shine!

admin — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:38:38 +0000

There has been a tremendous amount of activity and movement within the A&R community over the last two months. Alex Luke and Michael Howe both join Dan McCarroll’s West Coast A&R team at Capitol while writer/producer Mike Elizondo joins Rob Cavallo’s A&R team at Warner Bros. The other addition to the Warner Bros. A&R team is former Jive A&R veteran Jeff Fenster who is returning to Los Angeles after nearly two decades in New York. Two additional transplants from NYC to LA are former J/Arista Sony Executive Larry Jackson who joins Jimmy Iovine’s team at Interscope and Atlantic’s Sam Riback who moves to the LA office. Meanwhile in NY, Adonis Sutherin joins Jive, Steve Lunt exists Atlantic and Ian Dench exists Epic. Longtime Motown A&R executive Lionel ‘KK’ Rosemond leaves to join indie powerhouse label E1 while in the UK, Mercury A&R executive Thomas Haimovici leaves to join the Warner Bros.-UK team.

Looking back at the activity within the A&R/Record Label community this past year, only twenty-three A&R executives were hired in 2010 and only two of those (Mark Williams and Vlad Bar) had ever been in A&R executive jobs before. Compare the twenty-three hired in 2010 to the fifty-eight hired in 2009 or the eighty hired in 2007! Only ten A&R executives in 2010 (compared to fourteen in 2009) were fortunate to leave one A&R job for another. That list includes Jeff Fenster, Larry Jackson, Michael Howe, Chris Anakute, Lionel ‘KK’ Rosemond, Thomas Haimovici, Qiana Conley, Lindsey Cook, Dan McCarroll and Gary Overton (while Dan McCarroll and Gary Overton are the Presidents of Capitol and Sony Music Nashville respectively and are not A&R executives per se, we’re including them because of their leadership role in driving their label’s creative departments and Conley is included since she joins Simon Cowell’s SYCO in an A&R capacity from her creative position at Notting Hill Music Publishing).

Sadly, there were 40 A&R executives who exited their A&R positions in 2010 and not one of them has landed another job in the A&R field (we’re including the three Major Label Presidents who have exited from their jobs since October: Tom Whalley from Warner Bros., Amanda Ghost from Epic, and Rob Stevenson from Virgin). While forty exits from A&R in 2010 was less than the fifty-one exits in 2009, the sixty-four A&R exits in 2008 or the one-hundred, twenty nine who exited in 2007, we’re still moved by the sheer numbers and the loss of talent our industry has endured over the last several years. And as we head into 2011, it’s with a sense of sadness that for all intents & purposes EMI will most likely be sold or closed (of course, we realize we’ve been saying this for the last two years). If and when this legendary label falls, it will mean the record industry as we knew it has shrunk by 50% over the last decade. But, the reassuring and enduring aspect of the Music Industry is that it continues to be filled with visionaries, forward-thinkers and immense talent that will always find a way to prevail, inspire and entertain.

A&R changes at the major labels – update

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:05:20 +0000

Lots of A&R personnel moves to report: fourteen A&R Executives left their jobs within the last eight weeks while only five new A&R Execs were hired. Among the transitions were Shawn Barron (Atlantic), Steve Allen, Ben Durling and Bill Holland (Warner Bros.), Sam Mumford (RCA), Ericka Grayson (A&M), Durius Jones (Capitol), David Wright and Angelo Sanders (Def Jam) and Jamie Nelson (Mercury).

You want to make it in the USA as a musician? Los Angeles specifically? Contact Out of Step Entertainment for a free chat during the next 2 weeks – email only. Serious inquiries only.

thanks,

Out of Step Entertainment

Hollywood, California

A&R changes – November 2009

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:15:03 +0000

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Among the most notable changes include the return of Rob Cavallo as Chief Creative Officer for Warner Music in California, Ed Johnson joining Warner Bros. from EMI Music Publishing, and Darby Bowen joining Epic. Over in the UK, there was a lot of activity as Zack Strubel joined Columbia, Jos Watkin joins Parlophone, Scott Jason joins Polydor, and Steve Proud joined Warner Bros. Ollie Hodge returns to Columbia-UK from his short stay at Columbia–NY, Angus Blair exits Island, Marc Jones exits Columbia, and Gary Harris exits Warner Bros. In New York, Steve Ralbovsky’s label Canvasback Music joins Atlantic from Sony while Pete Giberga exits Epic, Daniel Davis exits Atlantic while Jamaal Meeks exits SRC. And the big label news (as in not so quietly kept secret) is that Universal Music Group’s CEO Doug Morris is making plans to have Universal’s international chief Lucien Grainge take over as CEO sometime this summer (Morris is expected to remain as Chairman).

A&R changes

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:10:16 +0000

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Among the most notable changes were former RCA A&R Executive Matt Marshall and EMI Music Publishing Executive Ed Jefferson who both join Tom Whalley’s A&R team over at Warner Bros in Burbank. In New York, A&R Veteran Steve Ralbovsky has brought his Canvasback Music label to Atlantic from Sony. Georgina McAvenna joins Rob Stevenson’s team over at Virgin, while Julius Garcia joins Jove and Daniel Mitchell joins Bad Boy. Meanwhile, Ben Adelson exits Universal Republic. Across the pond in London, Columbia’s Nick Huggett joins Island while Philipe Ascoli and Zack Strubel both join Columbia’s A&R team. Former Sony International A&R Executive Ricardo Fernandez joins Geffen. Phil Christie exits Virgin, former Sony Urban A&R Veteran Kawn Prather joins Def Jam South in Atlanta. Also joining Def Jam South is DJ Khaled. In a massive reorganization, Bill Bennett is exiting Warner Bros. Nashville and is being replaced by John Esposito (WEA’s current Ex VP Distribution).

A & R changes – 7/21/9

Geoff Koboldt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:19:06 +0000

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. At Sony in New York, Scott Graves exits Epic while Steve Ralbovsky exits Canvasback. Over at Atlantic, Shani Gonzales and Steve Owens exit while Joe Augustine exists Hybrid. Eddie Weathers and Eric Spec both exit Island leaving no Creative A&R Staff at Island Records in New York. Over at EMI, Mike Bailey exits Manhattan while Gabriella Cudjoe exits Music World. Over in the UK, both Valerie Gross and Oliver Warzola exit Decca, John Leahy exits Domino and Ricardo Fernandez exits Sony. Josh Sarubin joins Virgin and Kevin Carvell joins A&M/Octone as West Coast A&R. Lorne Behrman joins Razor & Tie, Jeff Sledge joins Battery, Lisa Ramsey joins Sony Music in Nashville and Samantha Rosenman joins Music World. We also want to make sure that you are aware that several companies have moved to new locations including Astralwerks, Lizard King-NY, Nashville Underground, Breaking, Great Society and Robbins-NY. Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation (Sony) has opened their doors in New York and Lil Wayne’s new label Young Money (Universal) is open as well.

A&R changes this month…

Geoff Koboldt — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:22:45 +0000

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Jeff Levin joins Atlantic while Sunny Lee joins Motown and Tom Lee joins Mercury. Max Gousse, David Wright and Angelo Sanders all join Island’s West Coast office. We’re always sad to report exits from the A&R World. Kenny ‘Tic’ Salcido and Joseph Weinberger exit Warner Bros., Lorne Behrman exits Blue Note, Susan Riley exits Word in Nashville and Steve Buckingham exits Vanguard. – A&R registry